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Corporate America’s Biggest Blunders

New Coke

n 1985, Coca-Cola released a new formula of their signature soda – only to remove it from the shelves months later due to terrible sales. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Enron Scandal

Crime never pays – in the long run that is. After years of embezzling and cooking the books, the scandal surrounding Enron finally broke in Nov. 2001. By December, the company’s stocks had tanked and it filed for bankruptcy.

Arch Deluxe

What’s more gourmet than McDonald’s? In 1996, the Golden Arches started cooking up fancier burger (with its own $100 million advertising campaign), which tanked, causing Mickey Ds some heartache. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner)

AOL/Time Warner Merger

One of the biggest mergers also ended up as the most expensive. Announced in February 2001, the merged company AOL-Time Warner posted a $99 billion loss in a year’s time. (Photo by Chris Hondros)

Ford Edsel

The classic failure – the Ford Edsel even had its own television show, but nothing could help sales of the ugly car.

ET and M&M’s?

Originally the candies Elliot used to lure the alien in his shed out in ET were supposed to be M&M’s! But Mars balked at the product placement, and “ET’s favorite candy” ended up being Reese’s. The candies enjoyed a huge spike in sales thanks to the movie.